Parent Extremis

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in conjunction with Carter’s are advising parents that their clothing with tag-less heat transfered labels are causing rashes in some children. A small percentage of babies and children have developed rashes on their upper back and neck. The affected clothing was manufactured in various countries and sold at Carter’s stores and other retail chains as well.

The clothing that is causing this rash is associated with the Carter’s Fall 2007 line of clothing. It uses a label on the inside back of the garment that has a raised surface with a solid background. This advisory does not apply to the current product lines that use a label with a stenciled background. See the photo below for an image of the label.

If your child develops a rash stop wearing the garment and if the rash persists contact your pediatrician. Some doctors will recommend applying a little bit of anti-itch cream or a moisturizing cream like Aquaphor.

These labels are safe and are not the ones included in this advisory.

Babies and young children are also very susceptible to rashes and a variety of skin conditions including baby acne, eczema and impetigo.

Babies and children have very delicate skin and soon after birth it is common for them to get minor rashes and bumps on their skin that don’t offend them.  However, more severe rashes and allergies are also all too common and require diet modification and sometimes antibiotics.  If you aren’t sure what is appearing on your baby or child’s skin you should see your pediatrician for a diagnosis.

Greetings!

I’m the new writer for Parent Extremis. I’m no more qualified to write for this site than I am to care for my own seven week old baby. So it should be a fun ride! No, really, I plan to use this site to evaluate and discuss a variety of parenting issues. I hope you will stay tuned for some potentially riveting, or at least mildly interesting discussions of all the issues I can dream up including breast versus bottle feeding, sleep issues (co-sleeping vs. crying it out), the effect of pregnancy on the family, dealing with pediatrician visits and vaccination controversy, dealing with toddlers, heading back to work, discipline methods and much more.

I recently became a stay at home mom, or a work at home mom who does some freelance writing, to Noah, born December 21, 2007. He is almost eight weeks old and I love him more than life itself. We live with my hardworking and devoted husband, Marc, four cats and a yappy little dog.